J. S. C. KNOWLTON'S ADDRESS. 555 



cessfully tasked to invent or discover compensating substitutes 

 for this physical inability. These labor-saving improvements 

 take innumerable forms, and are found in all departments of 

 human labor ; upon the land — in the shop of the mechanic — 

 in the mill of the manufacturer — and indeed wherever man and 

 woman are required to work. In no part of the world are 

 1-abor-saving facilities more essential than in our own New 

 England. Compared with the generous soils of the middle 

 and western states, ours yields its products grudgingly. It 

 therefore becomes the New England farmer to have a better 

 plough, a sharper hoe, and a keener scythe, than can elsewhere 

 be found. And as he has the power to compel domestic ani- 

 mals to aid him in his labors, he should have the kindest horse, 

 the most vigorous oxen, and the most generous cows ; and 

 treat them as his servants, and not as his slaves. Selecting, 

 from the various breeds, the best that can be found, he should, 

 by kind and generous management, make the farm a home for 

 them as well as for himself 



In the erection of the farm buildings, it is good economy to 

 adapt their location and arrangement to the various parts of the 

 farm, so that there shall be no waste of strength and time in 

 the carting of manures upon the land, in harvesting the crops, 

 and in going to and returning from the labors of the field. 

 The farmer who builds his house and barn upon a hill, at one 

 corner of his lands, instead of some position that is central and 

 easy of access, sacrifices to some caprice the strength, the ener- 

 gies, the time, that should be husbanded for some of the de- 

 mands upon each that spring up without cessation. 



But the subjects for physical cultivation that most deserve 

 the farmer's attention, are himself, his family, and the persons 

 in his employ. Their physical power is an essential part of 

 his capital. It is active capital. The dollar may employ it ; 

 but it does what the dollar of itself cannot do ; it sets the 

 world in motion. The amount of this capital should therefore 

 be carefully tallied by the farmer ; its capabilities for service, 

 judiciously surveyed ; its exercise, cautiously guarded from 

 abuse ; and its continuity and power of endurance, secured, as 

 far as may be, from the multifarious accidents that diminish its 



